Keith Olbermann Casts A Wide Net In Job Search

Jeff Bercovici
,
Forbes Staff
I cover technology with an emphasis on social and digital media.

What's next for Olbermann? (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Think Keith Olbermann has burned his last bridge in the television business? He doesn't think so.

Seven months after he got dismissed by Current TV, the temperamental host is aggressively job-shopping, and he's not being too picky about it.

In recent weeks, Olbermann has reached out to executives at a slew of different networks to communicate his desire for a new on-air role, according to people with knowledge of those conversations. Those include both cable outlets and at least one broadcast network.

He has expressed interest in taking over as anchor of existing shows and in starting a new show. Indeed, several of the networks he's approached don't have any news programming per se on their schedules. His frustration at not having a real platform during the height of election season has been evident.

Not that a news show is all he'll consider.
Olbermann has also told people he'd like to be involved in sports coverage. During his run hosting "Countdown" on MSNBC, he was, for a time, also an on-air commentator for NBC's "Sunday Night Football," although that arrangement ended in 2010.

You might suspect that Olbermann would be steering clear of NBC Universal in his job hunt, given his acrimonious history with that company, and you'd be right, at least as far as I've heard. Among the networks he's approached are ones owned by Viacom and AMC Networks, two conglomerates he has yet to quarrel with.

It's too bad there's so much scorched earth he must avoid, because the most natural home for him right now might be FX, which has lately been experimenting with liberally-inflected comedy shows hosted by Russell Brand and W. Kamau Bell. But while FX may not toe the political line set by its owner, Rupert Murdoch, the News Corp. chairman has flat-out said he wouldn't hire Olbermann again after firing him from Fox Sports in the 1990s.

Emails and messages to Olbermann's agent, Nick Khan of CAA, did not receive a reply.